Chad

SterlingBen

Watched this on VHS last year

My thoughts:

Spiderbite

I binged this on my Xbox and if you have Xbox Live, you can rent this thru them, CinemaNow, and some new Target rental app.

Undeadcow

Scanners II: The New Order was really good. It's so over the top with nonstop action. The 90s soundtrack (even the rock ballad credits song) was fun. The Scanners are over powered and the film isn't shy about taking what was a climax of the original and makes it a routine part of the show, but it really works. I'm told Scanners III: The Takeover isn't as good, despite having the same director, and it's a shame they don't seem to have directly continued the series. These people sure do like to explode up people's heads, I think I lost count.

SterlingBen

edit:wrong thread

Trevor

The classic original is on YouTube as well; making it a double (triple perhaps?) feature this morning.

SethDLH

I enjoyed the sequel. I think the original is good but one of Cronenberg's weakest films from that era and found the sequel to be just as entertaining due to how far over the top it managed to go while being better than a cheap cash-in.

Trevor

I was pleasantly surprised, and it enjoyed it almost as much as the original.

The third one stunk though. The dramatic grimaces the rivals gave each other near the end there had me laughing out loud.

DaveyJoe

From the opening credits I get a creeping suspicion that Canada had something to do with this movie.

You know what I'd like to see, a helpless dying puppy. Oh perfect, thanks movie!

Ah yes a... headphones bar? WTF?

Canadian movies feature villains that are well-dressed men with large glasses and soft voices.

"Have a nice day, sir." Has to be one of the lamest close-up come backs in movie history.

25 minutes into the movie and not a single head has exploded.

DaveyJoe

Oh, there we go.

Things are getting serious in this movie, I hope Justin Timberlake makes it out okay.

"Nobody knows what happened to your parents... they're both dead.."

David's family seems like nice folks, something tells me they're going to live a long happy life.

Nah, fuck that! Those bastards crossed the line, it's time to call up the rest of N Sync and get revenge!

rbrown498

Meh. Exactly what I expected--no surprises, a few money shots, a sufficiently long running time. It wasn't unwatchable by any means, but I can't think of any reasons to recommend it to anyone, either.

I'm ticked off at myself for getting sleepy and having to bail on Lake Mungo--I had abandoned the Challenge last year before its subset night, so I never got around to watching it. I was really enjoying it, but I only made it twenty minutes in before I started nodding off. Maybe I'll try again this weekend.

cproaps

A fairly good sequel, though I still prefer the original. It's cool to see David Hewlett from Stargate Atlantis in an earlier role. The only thing earlier I have seen him in was the Friday the 13th the Series episode he did about a supernatural comic book or something.

DaveyJoe

I thought Lake Mungo was great, one of my favorite viewings from last year's challenge. It's worth another attempt.

cproaps

And it's ironic how the baddie scanner ends up so "well done" in the end because he later becomes Raw.

Somebody will get it.

indiephantom

Honesty not a big fan of the original Scanners. This one I felt quicker-paced and more go-for-broke in the entertainment dept. I've been kind of digging some of the '90s horror that I originally overlooked.

Spiderbite

That's my problem with all of these movies. The overacting, wacky looks they have to give just always takes me out of these movies.

I am not a fan of the first movie and actually liked this movie more...though that isn't saying much. And are we sure this movie is from 1991? It looked more 1985 to me. It moved at a decent pace for a little bit but kinda dragged in the middle.

Not a movie I will revisit.

My rating: **1/2 out of *****

DaveyJoe

That's cause it's Canadian. 90s Canada = 80s USA.

ntnon

I didn't recognise him at all. It wasn't until I saw his name on the credits that I was inspired to look him up as one of those 'I feel sure I know that name...' moments.

Never seen Scanners, but on the strength of this, I shall aim to soon. I enjoyed it. The plot seemed full of annoyingly-obvious holes (why continue to help? Why not use your powers against the crazy-conspiracy people?, etc.) but it held together well enough and was compelling.

I liked that after effectively giving the main villain several kinds of brain damage, the main Scanner-chap says 'no more killing' and wanders off with no apparent repercussions...